S.A.D. TuneUp Utilities review

Another tool to delete and recover files

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Our Verdict

TuneUp Utilities is a handy set of tools to have, especially if you rarely clean your system

For

A few good features

Against

Nothing special

We all know we should take better care of our laptops, but we like installing programs and making the most of our download limits, only dealing with system slowdowns when they become noticeable. TuneUp Utilities consists of two types of utilities: those for streamlining performance, and general tools for helping you get the most out of your laptop.

We were surprised how quickly it installed itself, leaving two icons on the desktop, one for the main application and a second for 1-click Maintenance. Once you start the main program, you'll be presented with a number of distinct areas.

Customize and Analyze works in much the same way as Microsoft's own PowerTools, by allowing you to streamline the appearance of Windows by refining the way fonts work, and by disabling the more powerful graphics that can slow your laptop down. The one area in which it differs is the StartUp Manager, which allows you to strip applications out of Task Manager without too much effort.

CleanUp and Repair is a tool to quickly get rid of temporary files that clog up a system behind the scenes. It also allows you to get rid of any entries in the Registry that are left when you uninstall a program. In many ways, this is the main theme behind TuneUp Utilities: purging the Registry of the unwanted or dead links.

Having a clean Registry will help stop system failures and crashes, but for a serious tune-up, you'll need to turn to Optimize and Improve, which will effectively defragment the Registry further.

TuneUp Utilities is a handy set of tools to have, especially if you rarely clean your system, but it amounts to little more than a number of tools for cleansing your Registry and add-ons that are available in other forms for free.